I Didn't Raise My Boy To Be A Soldier

The original sheet music for this song - dedicated to mothers everywhere - was published by Leo Feist of New York, copyright 1915, and credited as by the writers of "Good Luck, Mary", but while the former is long forgotten, this collaboration of lyricist Alfred Bryan and composer Al Piantadosi earned itself a unique position in the annals of popular music as the first commercially successful anti-war song, spawning a host of imitators, including pro-war songs and parodies such as "I Didn't Raise My Dog To Be A Sausage".

Although the United States did not enter the First World War until 1917, attempts were made to drag it into the conflict almost from the beginning, and this musical polemic - written from the perspective of an indignant mother - was penned with the specific but ill-fated intention of maintaining US neutrality, and that in spite of becoming the top song in the US for eight weeks and being used as an anthem for the anti-war movement.
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Kelli from Mayberry, OhThis song also led the Vietnam era anti-war movement as released (sort of a joke) by The Eli Radish Band on Capitol Records in 1969. See: http://www.EliRadishBand.com and http://www.Facebook.com/EliRadishBand for more information.